I watched the lanterns light dance along the contours of his face. I traced my fingers over his jaw line, the hair of his brows, the lines of his lips. I lost my hands in his hair, I listened to the steady rhythm of his heart, heard the perfection of his breath, and felt the warmth of his skin. I had never been so close to a man and the love rapidly building inside of me overwhelmed me to the point of combustion. Every move he made set my heart, my passion on fire. He was desire defined, he was everything I had dreamed of. He was everything my life had ever searched for.

He turned on his side to face me, those eyes delicately watching me. He smiled. I had never seen him smile before and it fluttered through me making me lose every train of thought I had previously possessed. He reached out his hand, touched my face, and then moved in to kiss me. I stopped him though, pressing my hand against his chest and he looked at me with a curiosity in his gaze.

“What is it?” He asked, his eyes moving down again to my lips. Inwardly my heart beat rapidly with the thought that he actually wanted to kiss me so badly.

I shook my head. “I just want to hear you talk….Tell me something…” I whispered, the eagerness I felt to want to know him was more than I could bear. I wanted to know everything about him. I wanted to know his thoughts. I wished inside that he would allow that.

Softly he sighed and fell onto his back, his hair a dark halo around his head. “What do you want to know?” He asked, his eyes above him.

I moved closer to him not wanting to lose the warmth of his body and rested my hand on his chest. “Did you always live here?”

He was silent for a moment and then he shook his head. “I came here when I was a child…A wandering orphan. My village was pillaged by neighboring warlords….My family died and I just escaped with my life. They took me in here, they gave me a home.”

“And you would never leave?” I questioned, wishing somehow that he and I could leave this barbaric place and live amongst a more civilized people.

“Why would you ask that?” He demanded, looking at me with a furrowed expression. “Would you leave where you belong?”

I lowered my eyes from his and watched the light reflect off the skin of his chest. “I already have.” I whispered.

He didn’t answer, he only pulled me closer against him and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “This is my home. I have known nothing but death outside of this place.”

“And this war….the one you said is brewing….you will fight it?”

He nodded. “I have to…..I fight for what I believe and I believe in all this.”

I sighed but didn’t want to say something that would upset him. I didn’t want him to think I was against what he believed although the very thought of war terrified me.

I lifted myself up and leaned over him. He smiled up at me and I smiled in return. “Believe in this, Tomo. In us.” I softly said before kissing him. Our passion for each other igniting all over again. I didn’t want to think of anything else but what was in this moment. How could I? Everything else was meaningless.